Creating an Intention Journal

In my last post on Setting Intentions, I explained why I prefer setting intentions to setting goals.  No longer do I merely write down goals once at the beginning of the year; I write intentions daily.

Creating an Intention Journal is something that happened naturally for me because I am a list maker.  In the past I created long lists of everything I wanted to get done daily; pay a bill, go to the grocery store, write a blog post, etc…the list went on and on.  While it was good to have everything written down, I found it overwhelming.  I typically didn’t finish half of the tasks on my list and felt a sense of incompletion.

Over the years, I’ve tried to understand myself and what I need in order to stay motivated. I’ve found that short daily lists allow me to feel as if I have a couple of quick wins every day. I leave off the things I know I will remember to do and I limit how many items I write out. I don’t have a set number of things for each list; rather, I gauge how I’m feeling as I write.  If I start to feel anxious I stop writing and do not add anything else.  There’s always tomorrow.

Here’s how you can create your own Intention Journal:

1. First, get a regular notebook.  It doesn’t have to be anything fancy!  Leave the fancy book for your regular journaling and make your Intention Journal your rough and tumble, take anywhere type of notebook.
2. Leave the first three pages blank.  This space is where you can list your long-term intentions for the year so that you don’t have to keep listing them daily.
3. Now list your long-term intentions on the first few pages.  Do this freely and don’t feel you need to limit yourself here.  This is where you can dream!
4. After you’ve listed your long list of intentions, it’s time to comb through them to see which intentions you want to tackle today.
5. So now you have an idea of which long-term intentions you would like to work on today.  At the top of the first “daily intention page” write the date.  I usually also write “These are my intentions for today.”  There is no rhyme or reason in doing this other than it reinstates what you’re doing on a daily basis.  Sometimes, our subconscious needs to be reminded.
6. I usually have a couple of categories such as personal, work and purpose under my daily intentions list.  I’ll list two to four things under each intention.  This is the amount I’ve found works for me, but you’ll have to gauge your own intuition to see what works for you.  This will take practice, so don’t be hard on yourself if you list too many intentions to begin with.
7. I’ll start with my first category – let’s say “personal.”  This is usually where I remind myself that I’m human and not be too hard on myself and to accept myself.  Yes, that’s an actual intention I have!  Yours may be completely different.  Next, move on to other categories.
8. After I complete each intention throughout the day, I check it off.  Like I said, it’s nice to have those quick wins.
9. Write in your intention journal every day.  If you miss a day because you truly are too busy, forgive yourself and move on.  Don’t dwell on it, simply do it the next day.

If it is your intention is to create your Intention Journal, then I suggest you prioritize writing in the same way you do the intentions that you write about. Like meditation, it’s best to write at the same time every day so it becomes a habit.  I write my intentions in the morning, however if I am short on time I do it later in the day. Similarly to meditation, it’s important to create time to write regardless of how busy you may be.

I hope this post inspires you to work on your intentions daily.  I have fun writing my intentions down and accomplishing them throughout the day. And at night, instead of feeling like I didn’t get everything done, I feel a sense of completion. It’s a much, much nicer way to wind down my day.